Moderating effects of personal resources on work engagement and work-family conflict

Orientation: There is a growing concern about the dark side of work engagement. Recent research has shown that employees who are highly engaged at work are more likely to suffer from high work–family conflict. As employees’ engagement is highly valuable to organisations, it would be useful to identify variables that mitigate this negative impact so that both employees and the organisation can benefit from this positive work behaviour. Research purpose: The study examined the moderating roles of work-family conflict self-efficacy and resilience on the relationship between work engagement and work-family conflict among female nurses in Nigeria. Motivation for the study: While prior research has established that work engagement is associated with higher work-family conflict, less research attention has been paid on the factors that can moderate or buffer this relationship. This study was therefore conducted in response to calls for empirical research on the potential moderators between engagement and work-family conflict. Research approach/design and method: The study used a cross-sectional survey approach to gather data from a sample comprising 233 female nurses in four public hospitals in Ondo State, Nigeria. They responded to measures of work-family conflict, work engagement, work-family conflict self-efficacy and resilience. The study hypotheses were tested using moderated regression statistics. Main findings: Findings indicated that work engagement positively predicted work-family conflict. Work–family conflict self-efficacy and resilience buffer the positive relationship between work engagement and work-family conflict. Practical/managerial implications: These findings implicate the need for intervention programmes that would enhance self-efficacy and resilience among female nurses in Nigeria. Contribution/value-add: This study is one of the first to examine the moderating roles of personal resources such as work-family conflict self-efficacy and resilience on the relationship between work engagement and work-family conflict within the framework of conservation of resources theory.